May 29, 2007

This week�s Eat - Don�t Eat column takes on the All American Hot Dog (and a few that we aren�t sure America would want to claim). Mind you, I don�t eat hot dogs very often because of the amount of fat and saturated fat in them, but if you are going to, here�s some OK choices.

Eat

The winner in the taste testing was the 110 calorie Applegate Farms Great Organic Uncured Hot Dog. These are a good hot dog with a good texture and hot doggy taste. These are lower in fat at only 8 grams and 2 grams of saturated fat. They also have no preservatives at all and are organic. I�ll be using these for grilling occasionally. Applegate Farms

The Healthy Choice Beef Franks were not bad and came in second in the healthier hot dog category. A good choice with good flavor and texture, these guys have only 70 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. Healthy Choice

Don't Eat

Oscar Meyer Wieners. In spite of the song being so wonderful I don�t want to be an Oscar Meyer Wiener. A whopping 12 grams of fat and 4 grams of saturated fat and these guys have lots of preservatives.

I had high hopes for the Oscar Meyer Turkey Franks but these just didn�t live up to expectations. There was simply not much flavor and it�s not worth eating a hot dog with no flavor.

Maybe it�s something about turkey hot dogs, but even the Applegate Farms Uncured Turkey Hot Dogs were not very good. They taste sort of like braunschweiger and have a chemical aftertaste (in spite of not being made with any chemicals).

Really Don't Eat

I have eaten some terrible things over the years tasting different foods for the Dr. Gourmet website, but nothing prepared me for just how bad a product can be and the company still stay in business. The following two products are so terrible I am not sure that I have words to describe just how bad they are.

The Lightlife Smart Dog is quite simply not the most terrible thing I have had to eat - only because that honor belongs to the Yves Meatless Hot Dog. Oh, my gosh! I had no idea that something could be that bad and be sold in stores. If I tell you how bad these two products are I would feel terrible about your having to read about it. Simply put, leave this one at the store!